Jay Carney parries on latest Obamacare delay

9/26/13 1:35 PM EDT

The White House deflected questions Thursday about an Internet portal for small businesses to sign up for health care exchanges being delayed.

“What is absolutely true is that on October 1, everyone will be able to enroll … one way or another,” press secretary Jay Carney said at his daily press briefing.

Carney stressed that tax credits have been available to small businesses, but didn’t directly address the question of why the online business exchange system won’t come online or when it would be available.

“What’s important is, as the president described today, that there will be available for small businesses, for individuals, a possibility of enrolling” in health care, Carney said.

The latest delay means online enrollment for small-business exchanges won’t be ready for the planned Oct. 1 launch. Businesses will still be able to sign up the old-fashioned way, on paper or via fax machine, but the delay is sure to bring another chorus of Republican attacks that the entire Obamacare system isn’t ready.

Word of the delay broke just as President Barack Obama completed a health care speech in suburban Maryland, where he attempted once again to make a pitch for his health care law.

Obama said during his remarks that individuals will be able to sign up for health care exchanges online starting next week and also warned people not to pay too much attention to stories about glitches in the program’s implementation.